University of Wyoming women’s volleyball player Macey Boggs testified at a state Senate hearing that her team lost two games to San Jose State in 2024 during a controversy involving transgender player Blaire Fleming.

Boggs, one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players involved in a lawsuit against SJSU and the conference, spoke in support of a bill that would require participation in athletic competitions to be limited to an athlete’s biological sex at birth in the state.

But for Boggs, no legislation will give her another opportunity to compete in the volleyball postseason. Wyoming’s two losses to SJSU on Oct. 5 and Nov. 14 cost the team a chance to reach the Mountain West tournament, and her career is now over.

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“My team was penalized with two forfeits for refusing to play a male athlete on an opposing team, an injustice that ultimately kept us from competing in the Mountain West tournament.” Boggs said. “I was denied a chance to play my last collegiate games because we faced a situation that no woman should ever face, either competing against a team that has selected a male athlete in a women’s league or losing the rest of our season. No woman should have to face such a decision.

“We deserve to compete against athletes whose biology matches our own, not against a male standard.”

Sacrificing a chance to compete for a championship to ensure the safety of her and her teammates made a lasting impression on Boggs that she won’t soon forget.

“My team was told that we didn’t deserve safety on the field, that we weren’t important enough for fair competition and that women should remain silent for the benefit of the men,” she said. “This issue is about more than just wins and losses. It’s about whether we respect women and girls.”

Wyoming Republican Sen. Wendy Schuler, a former college athlete, is the bill’s sponsor and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. Boggs urged state lawmakers to pass the bill to protect future female athletes from similar situations. The bill was passed by a 4-1 vote.

There are already 25 states with laws in place to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports. A bill to prevent it nationally has already passed the House of Representatives.

Boggs hopes her experience can lead lawmakers to make sure it doesn’t happen elsewhere.

“While it may be too late for me to end my career on the terms my team earned, it is not too late for the young ladies coming up behind us,” she said. “Forcing women to compete with or against biological men is fundamentally unfair, unsafe and a violation of women’s rights.”

Boggs expressed his belief that sex is determined by birth and “not by emotion.”

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The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Sia Li’ili’i, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was suspended by San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging the university gave favorable treatment to the trans player, is also a plaintiff.

Former NCAA swimmer and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines, who regularly organizes with other female athletes affected by transgender inclusion and is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over the issue, revealed her account of what the players went through, based on discussions with them, during a hearing in Idaho on January 9.

“They were emotionally blackmailed into thinking they were the problem,” Gaines said of the players, adding that Boise State was the only university that showed administrative support for players who wanted to forfeit.

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“The overwhelming majority of them did not want this brought upon them. Nobody asked for this. This is not a situation they wanted to be in,” Gaines added. “These girls were terrified. They were afraid to stand tall. They were afraid to stand up for themselves. They were afraid of the things that would potentially come if they just said ‘men and women are different’.”

Marshi Smith, co-founder of a legal advocacy group, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, testified that the female athletes participating in the lawsuit felt threatened with retaliation from their university if they spoke out against transgender inclusion.

“What will they do to us because we say so?” the players often asked, according to Smith.

Smith elaborated on those players’ questions in a follow-up statement to Pakinomist Digital.

“They’re often afraid of losing scholarships or being kicked off their team. At San Jose State, administrators exploited that fear by telling them to keep quiet because it’s Blaire Fleming’s story to tell, not their own,” Smith said.

Louisiana Tech head volleyball coach Amber McCray confirmed to Pakinomist Digital that her team did not know about the situation involving Fleming’s natural birth sex, and only found out the day after the game via rumors from parents.

LA Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey suggested in emails obtained by Pakinomist Digital that if officials had known Fleming’s natural birth sex, the team “would have sought ‘a different outcome.’

Slusser, who claims she had to share bedrooms and dressing rooms with Fleming in the lawsuit, has told Pakinomist Digital the experience has been “traumatic.”

“This season has been so traumatizing that I don’t even have the proudest moment,” Slusser said.

SJSU has also acknowledged a recent exodus of volleyball players entering the transfer portal. Almost all remaining players who are still eligible want to leave the program.

“Student-athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” it said in a statement.